17th Horse (Poona Horse)

The Poona Horse
Current Regimental Cap Badge
Active	1817 - present
Country	British India  India
Branch	British Indian Army  Indian Army
Type	Cavalry
Size	Regiment
Part of	Indian Army Armoured Corps
Nickname(s)	Poona Horse, Fakhr-e- Hind[1]
Motto(s)	रण वीर जय सदा (Ran Vir Jai Sada)[2]
Equipment	T-72 tanks[3]
Engagements	Third Anglo-Maratha War Battle of Koregaon First Anglo-Afghan War Battle of Kandahar Battle of Ghazni Battle of Kabul British conquest of Sindh Battle of Meanee Battle of Hyderabad Anglo-Persian War Battle of Kooshab Indian Mutiny Battle of Sindwaha 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia Second Anglo-Afghan War Battle of Girishk Battle of Maiwand Battle of Kandahar (1880) Boxer Rebellion Battle of Peking First World War First Battle of Ypres Battle of Givenchy Battle of La Basse Battle of Armentiers Battle of the Somme Battle of Flers–Courcelette Battle of Cambrai Battle of Shaiba Battle of Ctesiphon Capture of Damascus Third Anglo-Afghan War Second World War First Battle of El Alamein Annexation of Hyderabad Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Battle of Basantar
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lt Gen Hanut Singh, PVSM, MVC

The Poona Horse is an armoured regiment in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army. The regiment, known before independence as The Poona Horse (17th Queen Victoria's Own Cavalry), was raised as a regular cavalry regiment in the Bombay Presidency army of the East India Company. It was formed from the 3rd Regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry, raised in 1820, and the Poona Auxiliary Horse, raised about 1817–18. The latter unit was absorbed into the regular forces about 1860 and the two regiments later became the 33rd Queen Victoria's Own Light Cavalry and the 34th Prince Albert Victor's Own Poona Horse.^[4]

These were amalgamated in 1921 into the present regiment, the battle honours of which tell of service in three Afghan wars, in Persia, Abyssinia and China, as well as in the Great War. The regiment has fought with distinction in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars, with an officer winning India's highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra, in each war.^[5]